I grew up on Sonlight, so the study of history never felt like I was studying history. We read great books that seamlessly wove history and fun together. It wasn't until my public high school experience that I even consciously recognized History as a school subject. But suddenly it was a subject unto itself and, worse yet, it was boring.
I mean, they tried. They really did.
In high school, they had us debate how the US should respond to the Cuban Missile Crisis. My side won and we nuked 'em--much to our teacher's dismay. In college, my US History professor was wheeled into class dressed like FDR. But that's about all I remember from those classes. Well, I also distinctly remember that I learned how much I hated history classes.
Sonlight pioneered, and continues to champion, a completely different way of studying history. Sonlight's literature-rich approach to learning is as fantastic as it is fun. Literature-based learning removes the boring side of history class--memorization of names and dates you'll just have to look up later... if you care at all--with the important parts: Why people did what they did.
Because, really, the purpose of studying history is not to remember the names and dates of stuff that happened, but to--hopefully--learn from what has happened before so we can make better choices today and in the future. And that's the part of history that's fascinating and fun. I love reading stories of the Sonlight students who one day are told that all the reading they're doing together is part of school. "That's school?" they ask, incredulous. "That's not school! That's fun!"
There's no better way to learn.
~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Empty Nester
P.S. If you're already familiar with WWII, you may find the following "Facebook adaptation" as funny as I did (NB: some swearing & dirty comments): WWII on FACEBOOK!
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